Introduction
If we wanted to be more accurate however, we might call it ‘individual change.’ As important as business practices, methodologies and frameworks are, at the end of the day, it’s people that drive these things and make them work. If the people who make up an organisation cannot change and learn to work in new ways, with new tools, any change initiative is doomed to fail.
Change management (and change managers) help organisations prepare their employees for change and support those individuals most readily affected by change to help drive successful outcomes. Many change managers learn the theories, models and techniques needed to manage change successfully by getting certified by attending change management courses.
While the changes a business might undergo as are unique as the people who work there, change management provides a semi-structured approach to change that everyone can use to aid transition:
Individual change management
Change-management best-practices recommend that change be addressed at an individual level. This requires understanding how people experience change. It also requires that change managers actively help people make a transition: This might involve office communications, teaching someone a new skill, or even coaching teams in new behaviours. Individual change management helps apply actionable frameworks to individual change.
Organisational change management
While highly desirable, it’s sometimes not feasible to address change at an individual level. Organisational change management prescribes actions to take at the project level to support large businesses with hundreds or thousands of employees.
Change managers must first identify workgroups and define how they will need to change. They then create a customized plan for ensuring affected employees receive the information, leadership, and training they need to change successfully.
Organizational change management is often used to complement large-scale change projects, especially when developing bespoke solutions. Project management ensures correct solutions are designed, developed, and delivered. Change management ensures the solution is used effectively.
Enterprise change management
Enterprise change management is a competency that provides helps businesses adapt to constantly changing business environments with consistent results. A good enterprise change management capacity means the idea of change is embedded in a business’s roles, processes, projects and leadership.
The result of having high enterprise change management capacity is the ability to respond to market changes, new technologies and procedural changes without sacrificing productivity.
What is change management training and certification?
Change management certification is demanded by many UK employers. It’s a simple and easy way to show you understand how to apply change management best-practices to working change initiatives.
Change management courses cover the ideas, strategies, and skills that can be applied to manage change effectively. Training generally covers:
- How to plan for change.
- How to implement change.
- How to support continuous improvements after change.
Generic change management best-practice can be applied to any type of change, whether it’s the creation of a new role or migrating to a new piece of software. At this level, change management training helps change managers understand the human response to change and create effective strategies to help achieve individual change.
Change management training and certification also addresses methods specific to a particular type of change. Changes to an IT system, for example, might require a business case for change, relationship building, training for select staff, redesigning business processes, and creating groups to manage the project. Some of these activities apply to other types of change, but this is the basic blueprint for change management technology implementation.
Is change management training and certification worth it?
There are several ways change management training helps prospective change managers deal with change:
- Change management training helps candidates understand just how powerful the human aspect of change is and how to attain the best possible outcome through individual change management.
- The change management strategies taught can act as a general map to help guide your actions and decisions. This will help prevent getting caught up in the complexity of change and focus on the big picture.
- Change management training will help you foster the relationships you need to maximize the effectiveness of a change.
A change management certification is proof that you, as a change manager, can effectively apply change management skills to organizations and individuals, helping them achieve successful change and increasing their capacity to approach multiple changes at once.
Effective application of change management training can radically improve one’s chances of meeting change project objectives.
Which change management certification is best?
There are numerous change management certifications and training courses available on the market. To make it easy for you, here at Knowledge Train, we offer APMG Change Management Foundation and Practitioner training and certification. We also offer Change Management courses online for people unable to commit to a 5-day course.
Why? Because APMG International is a globally recognised certification body that has a long and successful history of managing qualification schemes for businesses and professionals.
The APMG Change Management course has been developed in collaboration with the Change Management Institute and is aligned to the Institute’s Change Management Body of Knowledge (CMBoK).
APMG Change Manage courses equip candidates with the knowledge, theories and techniques to:
- Unlock resistance to change.
- Provide effective support and motivation to individuals and teams to embrace change.
- Draw from a range of professional approaches to implement change smoothly and effectively.
- Manage and inform key stakeholders throughout the change process.
- Speed up the implementation of change initiatives.
APMG courses are comprehensive and offer a structured approach to change management certification with both Foundation and Practitioner-level courses.
